


The Best of the Lot

by capncrystal



Category: Havemercy Series - Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
Genre: Adamo is overprotective, College AU, F/F, M/M, Other, Royston has terrible taste in men, bad boyfriend tales, terrible exes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 06:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5575330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capncrystal/pseuds/capncrystal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Eve and Hal is learning more than Royston ever wanted him to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best of the Lot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hydianway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydianway/gifts).



> For Morgan- happy holidays!

“Have I ever told you,” Antoinette grinned at Hal one day, “why we call you the good one?” 

The sitting room at Anastasia’s house was tastefully decorated, two couches opposite each other around an end table crowded with fancy cheeses, pots of tea and bottles of spiced rum. Anastasia was laying across the longer couch (“Owner’s privilege,” she’d told them smugly) with her head in Antoinette’s lap. Behind them, a pine tree glowed with lights and glittering baubles, casting both ladies in a golden light. Hal was clutching a mug of cocoa with both hands that were peeking out of a hilariously oversized cable knit sweater, draped across Royston who was himself taking up a good portion of the smaller couch. Adamo had claimed the overstuffed armchair as his own, and his blanket was casually slung over the back while he busied himself in the kitchen.

The five of them had gathered together for Christmas Eve in protest of family that either wouldn’t have them or had attached conditions to their affection that made returning home more stressful than anything. Hal was thrilled to be there. He’d been invited by Antoinette as he was delivering books and untainted coffee to the chemistry lab (ever since the Great Incident last year, none of the chemistry buildings were allowed to prepare food within the building by university law. Violation of the law was punishable with severe fines and a stern visit from Dmitri, the college campus’ security chief. This did not, however, prevent anyone bringing food in as long as they understood the considerable risks of consuming anything around the chemistry lab techs, who were widely opined to be a lot of mad scientists, and Antoinette the maddest of them all. Hal didn’t think there was much difference between eating in front of them compared to the graduate students in any other department on campus, most of whom were so busy working on their respective projects that they failed to realize how hungry they were until someone made the fatal mistake of approaching them with a sandwich). Hal was just devious enough to understand that the way to make friends on campus was to bring generous gifts of coffee and food whenever possible; so far, it had paid off magnificently. 

Antoinette’s girlfriend, Anastasia, was the picture of loveliness and was also an intimidatingly smart student of Business. Hal had never met her husband, Nico, though Royston had shared some gossip about them: Nico had been in some sort of accident last year and was in long-term hospital care, and Antoinette, who had been his lover, had stepped in to take care of Anastasia. He didn’t know the details of their unusual three-direction relationship, and he wouldn’t ever forget his manners enough to ask; the two ladies clearly had a loving relationship, and he knew that, even if Royston tended to find the best in people and ignore all their faults, his best friend Adamo had a very good head on his shoulders and wouldn’t have joined them tonight if anything were amiss.

Being around Antoinette, Anastasia, Royston and Adamo made Hal feel both intimidated and terribly mature. It was also a safe place for him to be open with how affectionate he and Royston were without any risk to his lover’s reputation; they weren’t technically breaking any rules, but intimate relationships between professors and graduate students were still frowned upon and Royston, only a junior professor without the safety net of tenure, was already at risk from previous scandals that Hal had only heard rumors about. 

“I assumed it’s because I’m so cute,” Hal smiled sweetly at Antoinette and there was no real cheekiness in the tone, just a sweet self-confidence that always seemed to take people by surprise. He felt Royston shift in discomfort under him and he settled himself back, pressing his weight firmly back onto Royston’s chest to tell him neither would be going anywhere just yet. Roy sat his glass of wine down and slipped his hand under Hal’s sweater, resting against Hal’s stomach with only the thin layer of a cotton t-shirt between them. 

“Ooh, do we get storytime~” Anastasia sang out, sleepy and giddy from the rum, her carefully curled ringlets spilling out on her girlfriend’s lap like a puddle of silk. Antoinette chuckled and leaned over to refill her glass.

“Well, in the spirit of Christmas, I think we should share some of our stories with Hal.” 

“Really, that’s not necessary..” Royston protested mildly, but he was on his third glass of wine and Hal thought he was very relaxed for the subject of such blatant gossip. 

“What shall we begin with? How about, ohh what was his name, Leonard? The one who made off with my silver serving dish and that ‘prized first edition’ of yours.”

“Ha. We talking about Roy’s terrible taste in men?” Adamo stepped over a fallen bottle of rum as it rolled its merry way to nowhere, glancing at the mess of his friends as if it had somehow gotten much worse in the minutes he’d been away. 

“Present company excluded, of course,” Royston said quickly, shooting Adamo a meaningful look that was more than half ruined by the enormous yawn that split his face.

“...Sure,” Adamo shrugged and eased himself down in the armchair, ignoring Royston’s glare. “Which story are we telling, then?” 

“How many stories are there?” Hal glanced back at Royston with a little frown of concern. For his part, Royston looked evasive and mildly upset, or perhaps just sleepy. 

“Enough to keep us entertained for the night,” Adamo smirked, giving Hal a challenging smile. “Wouldn’t you like to get to know Roy a bit better?” 

Hal straightened his back and met Adamo’s look with own, chin-up brand of stubborn. Privately, he knew he might not want to know everything about Royston’s dating history. It was enough to know he had been hurt in the past, and had a wealth of knowledge and experience to pass on, and that he loved Hal very much. On the other hand, knowledge of the past might help him avoid the conversational pitfalls he occasionally stumbled into that sent his darling professor into a quiet and sulky mood. 

“Alright, so,” Antoinette laughed. “The first time I met Royston officially was at a party for Ramanthine and other international students. I had just begun my career here at Threm U, and he was still a student here as well. His date-” She paused and glanced at Adamo. “Leonardo,” he supplied, then grinned wickedly. “Call me Leo,” He and Royston sang in mocking unison. It was obvious to Hal that it was a well-rehearsed and beloved mockery.

“Ohhh, he was so handsome though,” Roy sighed, then held Hal a little tighter. Hal wasn’t sure if it was an apology, or if Royston had simply forgotten what a social grace was for a moment- surely there was some rule against being fond when thinking of ex boyfriends when your current boyfriend was sitting in your lap? 

“Oh, he was passable,” Antoinette rolled her eyes. “I had brought some spice cake on my favorite silver serving platter, and it mysteriously went missing that evening. Since I knew everyone there but him, there was only one possible culprit, of course, but Royston wouldn’t hear anything against call-me-Leo until the ass pawned one of Royston’s first editions- who was it? Tolstoy?” 

“Kipling, I think?” Adamo scratched his chin. 

“I heard it was a Jack London,” Anastasia chimed in happily, inspecting her nails. 

“Maybe it was an anthology,” Hal suggested drily, leaning forward until he was teetering dangerously over the space between the couch and table to grab some cheese. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. It was a Bennet and Jones.” Royston held on to Hal’s waist and pulled him in close again. “If you’re going to tell my stories, please do tell them right.”

Adamo regarded Royston with a raised eyebrow. “Coulda swore it was a Kipling. Anyway, he came and got me with tears running down his face-” “Owen,  _ really _ .” “-mascara running and everything,” he snatched the tiny beaded throw pillow that Royston threw at his face with a smug smirk, “and I had to go talk to the pawn shop owner, explain how it was bad business to pawn off stolen merchandise.” He cracked his knuckles for effect and Hal shuddered. The thought of a seedy pawn shop owner was bad enough, but throwing in an Intentionally Intimidating Adamo into the mix? He could picture it very clearly: the pot bellied merchant with stains on his shirt, Adamo with his patriotic red leather jacket and probably some of the boys from his motorcycle shop waiting outside in case the man tried to run. It was at once awful and thrilling. 

“Alas, my serving platter remains lost,” Antoinette teased.

“You know, call-me-Leo still wasn’t as bad as that one douchey Kiril guy. Beardy face.” Adamo shifted lower in his chair, stretching. 

“You’re just upset because you spent the night in jail for him,” Royston smirked, chin tucked into Hal’s shoulder.

“I went to jail for you, actually, you giant nancy pants. He just happened to own the face I split my knuckles on.” 

“It was terribly romantic,” Anastasia sighed, grinning mischievously. “I remember that night very well, because you see, I helped post bail for him. It seems that Mr. Adamo caught the scoundrel in bed with one of his boys, recognized him for Royston’s public love interest, and got himself arrested for doing some awful violence to him.” 

“He didn’t need all those teeth,” Adamo shrugged. 

“Anyway,” Anastasia continued with a bloodthirsty smile that made her lovely and girlish face into something from a faerie nightmare of blood and pearls, “It was all the confirmation Mr. Adamo needed after several weeks of rumors. I did offer to find him a dry cleaner for his jacket, but he denied. It seems the jacket is red for a reason.” 

“It’s patriotic!” Adamo protested, but his heart wasn’t in it. Hal sank down into Royston and pulled his hands into his sweater, wishing very much that he could hide. He wished he could only be afraid of Adamo. That would make his life so much easier, right now.

“Perhaps we could move on to a different topic?” Royston suggested lightly, squeezing Hal tighter around the waist. “As amusing as it is to bring up all my sins, surely there is something other than that we can all discuss?” There was a moment of awkward silence where Adamo, Anastasia and Antoinette looked at each other doubtfully. Adamo broke the ice again by grinning.

“Have you two heard about the guy who wanted to introduce Royston to his wife’s cat?” Hal hid his face inside his sweater, taking a moment to come to terms with knowing far too much about Royston’s former love life and the challenges his best friend offered. Adamo was already intimidating in all kinds of ways, not least of which was that almost all their other friends seemed to think he and Royston were meant to be together and that Hal himself was an interloper. 

“No!” Antoinette was chuckling warmly. There was a clink of glass as drinks were topped up and Hal dared to peek out again. Royston sighed heavily.

“It was on a first date, when I was still a student with Owen.” Hal felt him shift, sitting up straighter to speak to them. Royston couldn’t bear to speak in public while slouching unless it was for dramatic effect; when he was lecturing, he always kept his back straight. Hal thought it was terribly endearing.

“The fellow was of course ridiculously handsome, but with a complete dearth of other assets in his favor. Naturally I didn’t realize that until later. Our afternoon consisted of a pleasant walk after class and an early dinner. During the meal, the fellow began to talk to me about his former lovers- honestly? Who does that on a date?” Hal slid off his lap and curled up between the back and arm of the sofa, smiling at Royston to show he was alright, just getting comfortable. “He then asked me to come and meet his cat. I should have said no right there.” Royston was subtly animated as he spoke, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head, making very tidy, minimal gestures with his hands. “He said- now I can’t quote, because it’s been ages, but it was something like ‘don’t be alarmed, darling, but she lives with my wife.’” He paused for effect while the girls tried to hide their efforts not to laugh behind their hands. 

“I should have walked away right there,” Royston looked at Adamo, who shrugged.

“You never did have the common sense the gods gave a newt.” 

“Yes, clearly. So I went with him, and do you know, the cat was just the tip of the iceberg. The house he brought me to was by the Molly docks, you know, terribly dangerous neighborhood. There were photographs of him on the walls. Just him. Not him and his wife. He explained to me, once we were inside, that he was keeping his residence there so that he could hide all the money he was making at his extremely lucrative job from his debtors, and could I please not say anything? He framed this, mind you,” Royston was leaning forward, speaking earnestly to the ladies whose eyebrows were nearly at their hairlines with varying mixtures of glee and horror, “in the most casual way imaginable, as if discussing the weather.” 

“Common sense. Newt.” Adamo sipped from his mug, somehow both noncommittal and smug at the same time. 

“Yes, but you know no one else will have you, so you tolerate me. Somehow, this story manages to get even worse.” 

Adamo grinned at Hal. “He means better.”

“I really do not.” Roy shifted, looking at Hal to gauge his reaction so far. Hal smiled gently at him. 

“I fail to see how this story could possibly get more entertaining,” he reassured Royston.

“That’s because I haven’t mentioned the fight yet.” Royston smirked at him, and Hal’s eyes widened. He loved stories of fights. It was improper, probably, but Royston knew his secret love; on one of their dates, he had allowed Hal to drag him to a boxing match. He hadn’t seemed to enjoy himself much during the evening’s entertainment, but the adrenaline-fueled sex they’d had after had made Royston vocal about just how willing he was to repeat the date anytime Hal wanted.

“He makes it sound like some romantic duel, ladies, but I remember cleaning him up after this one, and he took more damage the time his coat got stuck in an escalator and he refused to let it go.” 

“That was my favorite blazer,  _ Owen _ ,” Royston sniffed, “and it was worth more than you make in three months, so don’t judge me.  _ Anyway _ . His wife showed up.”

“Royston, you didn’t fight his wife!” Anastasia gasped, holding her hand over her mouth like she was trying not to laugh. 

“Of course I didn’t, but there was nothing to stop her from fighting  _ me _ .” Royston rolled his eyes. “I was fortunate to have an opponent so petite, and that I was too afraid of her husband’s seeming predilection for theft to take off my coat.” 

“How have I never heard this story?” Anastasia was laughing, face buried in Antoinette’s chest. Hal realized belatedly that it was fondness as well as laughter that kept her there.

“Well it’s not something I brag about, is it?” 

Banter continued in this vein for a moment as Hal got up, squeezed Royston’s shoulder and collected some of the empty, dirty dishes and utensils to bring to the kitchen. He puttered about in there for a few minutes, rinsing off the food so they’d be easier to clean later and pouring himself a glass of water to fight off the hangover he knew was coming even though he hadn’t actually had that much to drink. He didn’t dare spend too much time there, though, as he didn’t want Royston’s friends to think he was unfriendly or, worse, hiding.

Hal took a deep, fortifying breath and returned, curling up next to Royston and tucking the blanket around their feet. The hilarity had calmed down, and Adamo was giving him an unnervingly pointed look.

“It wasn’t all his peers, you know.”

“Owen, really.” Royston, having sobered up quite a bit, was giving Adamo a stern look. “We really don’t need to go there. It’s Christmas. Do me a favor and shut up, as a gift to me?”

“I already got you a Christmas gift, so, request denied.” Adamo leaned forward and looked directly at Hal, a stubborn and unhappy set to his jaw. “Roy’s last boyfriend was also a student.” 

Hal’s ability to keep his voice even surprised even him. “I know,” he said softly. “He’s the reason Royston got into so much trouble.” His fingertips snuck out of his overly long sleeve and brushed onto Royston’s. Hal kept his back straight and his chin up, taking his strength from where Royston’s hand squeezed around his and held on tightly. 

“You don’t know the half of it, though.” Adamo set his mug down- tea, Hal noticed, with the paper tail still trailing out of the side of the mug and coming to a fluttering rest on the side table. Tea, not rum. 

“You’re right, I don’t,” Hal agreed, forcing himself to stay calm and loose instead of tensing up like he wanted to. “I never asked.” 

Anastasia had her arms around Antoinette and her head on the darker woman’s shoulder, her hair obscuring her eyes so Hal couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep. Antoinette was sipping her dark red wine, relaxed, watching them with eyes half-mast and the arm that wasn’t holding her wine wrapped around Anastasia possessively. Royston was tense, frowning, looking between Hal and Adamo like he wanted very much to step in but he wasn’t sure whose side to take.

So, Hal chose for him. “Tell me about him,” he offered, squeezing Royston’s hand but looking at Adamo for the painful truths that Roy would somehow find a way to dance around in a misguided attempt to spare his feelings. 

“He was a freshman,” Adamo scowled. Royston looked away and Hal caressed the back of his hand with his thumb. He hadn’t known that. He’d assumed the scoundrel had been a graduate student. “Played coy and cornered Roy in his office after hours, then got all pissy when he didn’t get a better grade out of it.” 

“I really, really should have known better,” Royston admitted softly, and Hal felt his heart break a little. He leaned over and tilted Royston’s chin back to him until they were, at least, facing each other, even though Royston’s eyes were determined to look away. 

“Yes, you probably should have,” Hal said quietly, “But that doesn’t mean you weren’t taken advantage of.” He put both of his hands on Royston’s cheeks and pressed their foreheads together. It took awhile, but eventually Royston heaved out a sigh and melted into him, wrapping his arms around Hal’s shoulders and lowering his head so that Hal could place a gentle kiss on his forehead. 

Adamo shifted, leaning back into his chair, and Hal dared to smile at him. 

“Thank you for telling me,” he murmured.

“Yeah, well,” Adamo grumbled. “Just do better than them.” Hal nodded seriously, taking the grudging acceptance as the best he could hope for, for now. 


End file.
